Modular data centers, such as the facility built at Deventer, which will begin operating on Sept. 23. are thought to be one of the most energy effective high-capacity data solutions.

Hitachi’s data center initiatives date back to 2007, when the Hitachi Group launched its energy efficient data center project. The project was driven by the increasing demand for IT equipment and facilities in data centers, and for the company to lower its environmental impact.

Hitachi Europe’s focus on reduction of environmental footprint lead to the development of a modular data center solution, which has been available in Japan since early 2009. The solution optimizes the configuration of the cooling units to obtain the highest level of power efficiency in a high-density arranged data center. This enables data center operators to boost the utilization of space to the highest potential, while reducing CO2 emissions considerably.

Green Data Systems has supported the growth in green data center industries throughout Europe. The company is a leading provider of optimal data center capacity, cooling, managed services, SAN, security, server, software and data storage technology for green data centers and resellers in European countries such as Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands.

Müller Dairy is another European company with an eye toward lowering its carbon footprint while increasing the data capacity of its data center.

“NextiraOne has the expertise in building data center projects and we were impressed with the environmental awareness they are bringing to the project — entirely in keeping with our own carbon reduction strategy,” Stephen Kane, Head of IT at Müller Dairy U.K., said in a statement.

The projects will help Müller Dairy reduce its carbon footprint, as part of the company’s overall environmental initiatives. The company has made a number of commitments to reducing its carbon footprints and packaging and waste impacts.

Müller’s data center overhauls will utilize energy efficient APC InfraStruXure In-Row cooling systems, which reduce power consumption by directly cooling IT hardware rather than the entire server room. NextiraOne will also install a highly efficient centralized UPS system using Isolated Gate Bipolar Technology.

NextiraOne landed the Müller contract because of its experience in building energy-efficient and carbon-reducing data facilities. The company has a dedicated Intelligent Building Services Division that works on energy-efficient facilities, and is part of a business coalition working on the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Müller Dairy’s data centers are located at its headquarters and dairy in Shropshire, U.K. The company has not yet announced plans to use food and animal waste to power its computing facilities, a move that Hewlett-Packard hypothesized would be possible in a white paper published earlier this year.